Macky Auditorium

A Gothic-style auditorium completed in 1922 on the University of Colorado Boulder campus, funded by Andrew J. Macky's estate. The 2,047-seat venue has hosted concerts, lectures, and ceremonies for over a century.

Macky Auditorium was completed in 1922 on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, funded by a $300,000 bequest from Andrew J. Macky, a prominent Boulder banker who died in 1907. The stunning Gothic structure with its soaring arches and sandstone facade has served as the university's premier performing arts venue for over a century, hosting commencement ceremonies, concerts, dance performances, and guest speakers. But the auditorium's west tower holds a dark history that has fueled decades of ghost stories.

On July 9, 1966, Joseph Dyre Morse, a thirty-seven-year-old university janitor, murdered twenty-year-old CU Boulder student Elaura Jeanne Jaquette in the auditorium's west tower. Jaquette was an accomplished singer and pianist who loved music and had been drawn to the auditorium for its connection to the performing arts. Morse was charged with first-degree murder in August 1966. The university later honored Jaquette with a memorial plaque in Norlin Quadrangle inscribed with a Theodore Roethke quote: "It is neither spring nor summer. It is always."

Beginning roughly five years after the murder, around 1970, reports of paranormal activity started emerging from the auditorium. The most persistent claim involves the sound of organ music drifting from the west tower late at night when the building is empty and locked. Some have also reported hearing singing and even screaming echoing through the space. A recurring apparition has been described as a man in a brown suit wandering the auditorium, though his identity remains unknown. Whether this figure represents the victim, the perpetrator, or some earlier spirit connected to the building has been the subject of speculation for decades.

The Rocky Mountain Paranormal Research Society conducted a formal investigation of the auditorium using seismographic equipment, electromagnetic field detectors, and temperature readings. Their findings concluded that nothing unusual was detected, and the investigation report noted no measurable paranormal activity. Professional dancers and staff who have worked extensively in the building, including Amy Anderson of Colorado Ballet who performed there throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and CU composition professor John E. Drumheller, reported no paranormal experiences. Drumheller suggested that certain spaces can have their own atmosphere independent of actual hauntings. Despite the lack of scientific evidence, the ghost of Macky Auditorium remains one of Boulder's most persistent urban legends, and the building's imposing Gothic architecture and tragic history continue to fuel the stories.